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Ascension is seeking a Junior Grants Program & Eligibility Analyst to provide analytical, programmatic, data, and administrative support to Federal discretionary and demonstration grant programs administered by HHS/ACF’s Office of Community Services.

This position is well suited for an early-career analyst who understands how disciplined research, accurate data, eligibility reviews, timely reporting, and organized program records contribute to effective Federal grants management. The successful candidate will help DCDDP staff manage information associated with grant recipients and applicants, analyze program and application data, support monitoring and reporting activities, assist with grant competition and eligibility reviews, and help maintain reliable information for program decision-making.

DCDDP administers multiple discretionary and demonstration programs, including Community Economic Development, Rural Community Development, Affordable Housing and Supportive Services Demonstration, the Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot, Medical-Legal Partnerships Plus, and other programs authorized through appropriations. Its broader objective is to strengthen the capacity, performance, accountability, and measurable impact of these programs.

The ideal candidate is a detail-oriented, highly organized, analytical professional who enjoys working with data and documents, can follow structured Federal processes, and is comfortable handling multiple assignments with competing deadlines. The individual should be self-driven, dependable, responsive, and capable of working in an environment where priorities may shift during grant competitions, reporting cycles, monitoring activities, and other time-sensitive program events.

The candidate should be comfortable identifying incomplete or inconsistent information, researching issues, documenting findings, escalating questions appropriately, and helping senior team members convert raw program information into accurate, usable decision-support products.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Junior Grants Program & Eligibility Analyst provides foundational analytical and operational support across several DCDDP workstreams, particularly Monitoring, Evaluation and Data Analytics; Annual Grant Competition Support; Policy and Program Support; and Systems Coordination and User Support.

Under PWS §2.3, DCDDP requires analysis, validation, cleaning, and synthesis of performance and compliance data; preparation of performance summaries; monitoring of reporting; and support for reporting systems. Under §2.4, the Government requires applicant eligibility review, database maintenance, application analysis, correspondence, and grant competition support. Under §2.6, contractor personnel support grants administration and program operations. Under §2.7, the contractor prepares, organizes, and validates program data and assists users of Government-approved grants and reporting systems.

The Junior Analyst will work under the direction of Ascension’s Project Manager and senior grants/program personnel rather than independently exercising Government decision-making authority. The RFQ specifically prohibits personal services and inherently governmental functions. Contractor personnel therefore provide research, analysis, recommendations, coordination, documentation, and administrative support while Government personnel retain responsibility for official eligibility, funding, policy, and award decisions.

The individual will help ensure that program data is complete, organized, traceable, and useful to Federal decision-makers. The role requires particular attention to accuracy because the information supported by the analyst may contribute to applicant eligibility reviews, grant portfolio monitoring, performance reporting, risk identification, recipient communications, and Congressional or agency reporting.

Expected Day-to-Day and Recurring Activities

• REVIEW grant applications, program records, recipient submissions, and supporting documentation for completeness and consistency against established criteria.
• SUPPORT applicant eligibility reviews by organizing eligibility elements, documenting findings, maintaining review records, and preparing information for Government determination.
• MAINTAIN applicant, recipient, competition, monitoring, and program-support databases, trackers, spreadsheets, and related records.
• COLLECT program, performance, compliance, application, and recipient information from approved data sources and Government-provided systems.
• VALIDATE data for completeness, accuracy, consistency, duplication, formatting issues, and other data-quality concerns before analysis or reporting.
• CLEAN and organize datasets using Microsoft Excel and other Government-approved tools while maintaining traceability to source information.
• ANALYZE grant and program data to identify trends, exceptions, missing information, reporting issues, or matters requiring follow-up.
• PREPARE data tables, summaries, charts, status reports, eligibility summaries, performance highlights, and other analytical products for review by senior team members and Government stakeholders.
• TRACK recipient reporting requirements, submission status, deadlines, outstanding information, and follow-up actions.
• SUPPORT Performance Progress Report and related reporting activities by reviewing submissions and helping prepare performance summaries and follow-up inquiries.
• ASSIST with annual grant portfolio reviews by compiling performance and compliance information used by senior personnel to identify potential risks or monitoring priorities.
• SUPPORT annual grant competitions by maintaining applicant information, tracking submissions, organizing review materials, preparing correspondence, and supporting reviewer or panel-related administrative activities.
• RESEARCH program, grants administration, policy, or procedural questions and summarize findings for senior analysts, Program Specialists, and the Project Manager.
• PREPARE draft correspondence, memoranda, briefing information, worksheets, tracking reports, and other supporting documentation.
• COORDINATE with Program Specialists, analysts, DCDDP personnel, and other authorized stakeholders to resolve missing or inconsistent program information.
• ASSIST users with established grants-management and reporting processes, job aids, guidance, and basic questions involving Government-approved systems.
• DOCUMENT system-related questions, user issues, requested changes, and status information for escalation to appropriate Government system providers.
• SUPPORT development and maintenance of SOPs, process guides, job aids, templates, checklists, and administrative procedures.
• MONITOR assigned deadlines and proactively notify senior team members of approaching due dates, unresolved issues, or potential schedule risks.
• ORGANIZE electronic records and working files in accordance with established privacy, records-management, and information-security procedures.
• PROTECT sensitive Government, applicant, recipient, and personally identifiable information in accordance with HHS/ACF requirements.
• PARTICIPATE in project, program, grants competition, monitoring, and analytical meetings as required and document assigned decisions, actions, and follow-up items.
• PERFORM quality-control reviews of spreadsheets, databases, summaries, and supporting documentation before products are submitted for senior review.

Tools and Processes Used

The position is expected to work extensively with Microsoft Excel, including sorting/filtering, formulas, conditional logic, data validation, lookup functions, PivotTables, charts, reconciliation, data cleaning, and structured tracking workbooks.

The analyst should also be comfortable working with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint or comparable collaboration platforms, PDF documents, structured databases, and Government-approved reporting environments.

DCDDP’s PWS specifically identifies Performance Progress Reports (PPR), Online Data Collection (OLDC), GrantSolutions, and other data-collection/reporting tools as systems requiring recipient support. Experience with these platforms is strongly preferred but is not identified in the supplied labor-category requirements as a mandatory qualification.

The role will use repeatable processes for data validation, eligibility review, document control, issue tracking, quality assurance/quality control, records management, version control, and escalation of unresolved questions.